THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON AS IRISHMAN. [To THE EDITOR OF
THE " SPEOTAT011,"] SI E,—With reference to Mr. E. Stanley Robertson's remark anent Irish nationality and the Duke of Wellington, in the Spectator of February 25th, I ask your permission to refer your correspondent to the speech of the Duke in favour of Catholic Emancipation, 1829, in which he will find the follow- ing emphatic declaration, viz. :— "My Lords, it is a great additional gratification to me to advo- cate these principles in conjunction with a distinguished member of my family so lately at the head of the Government of his native country—a country ever dear to me from the recollections of my infancy, the memory of her wrongs, and the bravery of her people. I glory, my Lords, in the name of Ireland; and it is the highest pleasure I can ambition to be thus united with the rest of my kindred in the grateful task of closing the wounds which seven centuries of misgovernment have inflicted upon that un- fortunate land."
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